Home
by coldramen
Summary: Zane and Cole live long past the years of their brothers.


Zane jumped from tree to tree, looking for _anything_ to do. He clutched his backpack a bit tighter and listened to P.I.X.A.L's instructions on which trees were the sturdiest and strong enough for him to jump on, still not finding something to distract him from his over-bearing thoughts. As soon as he had free time, it was like his brain, his computer, knew immediately and implanted the thoughts into his head almost instantly.

"You know, it's okay to think about them sometimes." A voice sounded from beside him. He was so startled that he nearly slipped off the tree he had jumped on, which was very unlike him. He deduced that it must be because of his emotions and made a side-note that he needed to get them under control. P.I.X.A.L silently disapproved.

The voice chuckled, "Watch where you're going."

Once Zane had realized who was speaking to him, he made a noise of relief and smiled, "It is good to see you again, brother."

The voice smiled and adopted a cocky tone, "Isn't it always good to see me?"

Zane sat on the next branch he jumped to catch his breath. He zipped open his backpack, "Of course, Cole."

Cole sat on the branch, adjacent from Zane. He tried to peek inside his backpack, "Whatcha got?"

Zane pulled the backpack away and held up an accusing finger, "Ah, not until you tell me where you've been and why you have not been by my side for a month."

Cole smiled, "I was visiting their graves. Which is on the other side of the world because _someone_ decided that they didn't want to be in Ninjago anymore."

Zane let out an exasperated breath through his nose, "It shouldn't have taken a month."

Cole frowned, "Why does it matter?"

"I get lonely." Zane clarified.

Cole furrowed his brows, "But you have P.I.X.A.L."

"It's not the same." Zane said and attempted to hide how upset he was.

Cole scooted closer and took his face in his hands, "I'm sorry, Zane."

Zane smiled, "It is okay."

Cole returned the smile and added, "Now that I'm here, I want to see what you have in your backpack."

Zane handed him the backpack and watched as Cole searched through it, saying 'ooh' occasionally and pulling out certain items that caught his interest. Cole gasped at a particular item and pulled it out slowly, shaking lightly but visibly. Zane's brows furrowed, not knowing what it was that piqued Cole's interest so.

Cole pulled out a polaroid and Zane instantly knew what it was.

"You've... kept this... all these years." Cole said slowly.

The picture was of the four of them, their second year of training with Sensei Wu. They had only known each other for two years at the time but we're closer than ever. The picture showed Jay in the middle, both of his arms stretched out, implying that he was the one holding the camera. He was smiling a big, toothy smile, his eyes closed. To the right of him was Zane, wearing a toothy smile, much like Jay's, except smaller. To the left of him was Cole, one of his eyes closed in a wink. His arms around Jay and his head on his shoulder. Cole remembered when this photo was taken, they were at their closest.

Kai was at the top of the picture, he, too, had on a big smile, except this was one of his famous eye smiles that made his eyes seem as if they were two crescent moons. His hand was next to his face in a peace sign gesture.

Cole felt tears drop down his face and he let out a laugh, sniffing, "This is my favorite picture of us."

Zane smiled, "It is mine as well, which is why I've kept it all this time. I rarely look at it because it makes me miss them terribly."

Cole looked at him with a pitiful expression and sighed, "It's okay to miss them, Zane. It's not good to run from it like its the plague."

Zane frowned.

Neither Cole nor Zane knew which death had been the worst the deal with. Sensei and Misako had died of old age, naturally. Surprisingly, Lloyd went out first after Sensei and Misako, trying to defeat a very, very strong villain by himself wasn't the best idea he'd had, even if he was the green ninja.

This, of course, ruined the ninja. Without Lloyd, it felt like their team had been torn apart. Jay and Kai went up in a massive explosion, attempting to save citizens from a crashing plane. After their deaths, Zane, Cole and Nya carried on helping Ninjago and everything that threatened it until Nya was physically unable to. Nya, too, died of old age, peacefully and in her sleep.

After that, Zane fled, ignoring Cole's pleas. Ninjago found new heroes, whom Zane has surprisingly forgotten the name of. Cole doubts this, saying that Zane is 'refusing to remember their names, I've told you at least a million times', which is half true, Zane simply doesn't care about them and their names. He barely cares about Ninjago anymore. Being a long ways away has made him grow apart from his homeland. If Zane was being brutally honest, he would tell you that he only cares about Cole and P.I.X.A.L, and perhaps his late brothers. He's been doubting himself as of late because of his failure to ever visit their graves and because of the fact that whenever he begins to think about them, he finds something to distract himself.

Cole put the picture back into Zane's wallet, "It wouldn't hurt you to visit their graves once in a while, you know."

Zane looked away and said nothing.

"Even if I can't physically talk to them, it's nice to visit." Cole said, trying to get Zane to talk.

"I thought you were able to see them and speak with them."

"No... I can't."

"Why? You are a ghost, are you not?"

"Yeah, but they're in the light realm. I chose to stay in the earth realm with you."

Zane shook his head, "I am sorry."

"Don't give me that. I said I _chose_ to stay in the earth realm with you, if I wanted to go to the light realm I would've. I wanted to be with you, you dummy. You know I love you too much to let you be alone the rest of your life. Aside from P.I.X.A.L, of course."

Zane smiled and pulled Cole in for an embrace, squeezing tightly, as if he never wanted to let go. Cole temporarily became human again, activated by the utter love that Zane and Cole felt for each other. Cole squeezed just as tightly and caught Zane's backpack before it could slide off of the branch they were on. After a long, long while, Zane pulled away and grabbed his backpack from Cole, pointing to a nearby cave.

"Do you see that cave? It is crystal cave, would you like to go explore it?" Zane asked, jumping off the branch to the ground below him.

"You know I do." Cole said as he floated off the branch and took his rightful place next to Zane.

Cole and Zane live on to do many things, so many that I couldn't possibly mention them all here. They never stop traveling and they never settle down. Zane even visits the graves a few times. They find home in each other, a home filled to the brim with pure, unconditional love.

And it's beautiful.


End file.
